Ainge Watch For Monday

[wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

This is your official "Ainge Watch" station. . .

~ In a BS Report, Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel says:

Rumor mill: The Boston Celtics will see if Doc Rivers is interested in coaching them.

(This is put out by Rivers agent - zero chance.
Ainge isn't secretly meeting with Westphal to talk about what type of 
cheeleaders the team should have next season.)

~ Mitch Lawrence, NY Daily News says Ainge had trade talks with the Hornets:

Tim Floyd, who came close to getting fired last month, is as good as gone in New Orleans. But even when they fire Floyd after the season, as is planned, the Hornets need to make major personnel changes. The Baron Davis-Jamal Mashburn feud is alive and well. One has to go. It was almost Mashburn back at the trading deadline, but you can't blame Danny Ainge for wanting more for Paul Pierce when the Hornets and Celtics held trade talks. One thing Davis and Mashburn do agree on: When either has a slight pain, they're not playing for Floyd.


~ Ainge was watching the Nike World Hoop Summit in San Antonio Sunday.

And  here's some good stuff on Foreign Prospects from the Houston Chronicle
One correction, Serbian Luka Bogdanovic is a SF and a damn good shooting one
at that.. He can really shoot and at 6-11 (somehow he grew two inches) I would think 
he really intrigues the NBA scouts. Al Jefferson with the 15th pick?  An
interesting idea for Ainge to ponder. And the Italians love Bargnani - see him as a 
legitimate NBA prospect.

 - Like they did at the Hoop Summit, held Sunday at the University of Texas at San Antonio. 
More than 100 NBA scouts and dozens of NCAA coaches converged on the Convocation Center to watch America's best face the World Select Team of high-school-age players. 
If you're interested, America's youth ultimately prevailed by 20 points. But that's not the point. 
What was more interesting was that while superb U.S. talents like Josh Smith (6-9, 215 pounds) and Al Jefferson (6-10, 265) took over the game, showcasing great putbacks and hustle inside, the more technically sound center play came from the other side. 
Smith and Jefferson might have wowed scouts with athleticism, running the floor, handling the ball like guards and overwhelming the World Select Team big men. Both clearly have bright NBA futures -- as forwards. 
It was the world team that had four legitimate center prospects contributing, playing with their backs to the basket, relying on jump hooks and post moves. 
The most heralded of the group probably was China's 7-1 Yi Jian Lian, but one NBA scout said Yi looked timid in practices this week and still needs much work. 
The best of the group Sunday were Germany's 6-11, 275-pound Michael Schroeder and Serbia's 6-11, 230-pound Luka Bogdanovic. At other times this week, the 6-11, 225-pound Italian, Andrea Bargnani, was turning heads with smooth post moves. 
This game proved that America still rules basketball. But foreign-born players are laying claim to the `5' position. 
At one point during the U.S. team's big second-half run that separated it from the world team, Bargnani actually got caught up in the Americans' fast-paced, athletic style. Maybe it was the TV cameras and all the dunking the young Americans were doing. 
But on consecutive possessions, Bargnani tossed up 18-foot jumpers in transition. Italian coach Allesandro Gamba, a veteran of international basketball, raged. He called a timeout and benched Bargnani. 
Gamba's message to the big man was obvious as he scolded Bargnani on the bench: What are you doing taking those shots? 
Maybe if more U.S. coaches felt so strongly about big men playing like big men, U.S. players just might start reclaiming the one part of the game they've allowed to slip into foreign hands. The lane. 


~ Amico Report

Here's what Minnesota GM Kevin McHale told the Boston Globe in response to Boston GM Danny Ainge's comments earlier this season that the Celtics would be better off not making the playoffs and taking their chances in the lottery: "Danny doesn't just need a lottery pick. He needs one of the top three." 


~ The Toronto Raptors might have some interest in Chris Wallace for
their recently vacated GM position.

~ Heisler, LA Times on the High-Schoolers who helped themselves:

 Helped themselves and are now considered first-rounders:

Dwight Howard, a 6-10 prodigy from Atlanta, expected to go No. 1 or No. 2.

J.R. Smith, a 6-5 guard from Newark, N.J., who signed with North Carolina but popped up on radar screens after being MVP in Chicago and co-MVP with Howard in Oklahoma City.

Robert Swift, a Bakersfield 7-footer who signed with USC but is expected to go pro, bouncing back from a bad showing at the Pangos event at UCLA.

Marvin Williams, a 6-8 Tar Heel signee from Bremerton, Wash.

Al Jefferson, a 6-8 wide body from Prentiss, Miss., who signed with Arkansas but impressed NBA scouts by slimming down.

 Didn't help themselves but are still first-rounders:

Josh Smith, a 6-8 Indiana signee now at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, may make the lottery on sheer excitement. 

Shaun Livingston, a 6-7 point guard from Peoria, Ill., who is a reedy, gifted playmaker and has signed with Duke.

Sebastian Telfair, a much-hyped point guard from Brooklyn (see: Sports Illustrated cover, March 8), a Louisville signee who's 6-0, 5-11 or 5-10, depending on what he's standing on.

 Didn't help himself and may not be a first-rounder:

Jamarcus Aldridge, a 6-10 string bean from Dallas, a Texas signee who now says he'll go to school.

Of course, the agents never tell the teens that most of them won't play much next season. In three or four years, some of the biggest success stories like Garnett or O'Neal will be wincing at the thought of their introduction to the adult world, and even Bryant will be admitting wistfully that he used to drive past UCLA, wondering about what he'd missed.

Take it from the adults: You get here soon enough.